






OLD-TIME ^ 
ARCHBALD 



Early Institutions and 

Industries of the Town 

Important Happenings 

in Its History. 



A SOUVENIR OF THE OLD 
HOME WEEK CELEBRATION 

J^^ PKICE, TWENTY-FIVE CENTS ^jf^L^ 



4— .. 






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1 1 Old Home Week I 









T 11 









and every other week in the year 
The Archbald Bank is prepared to 
do your banking- business. It af- 
fords all the facilities of the big city 
banks and has the important advan- 
tag'e of being- convenient. It is a 
home institution; its stockholders 
are almost exclusively residents of 
the town. It is here- to build up 
the community and it has already 
done much in that direction. We 
ask your business and offer in re- 
turn to serve you to the best of our 
ability. 









ill 






The Archbald Baiik 



1 1 ARCHBALD, PA, 










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OLD-TIME ARCHBALD 




The Early Institutions and 
Industries of the Town. 
How the Place Looked to 
Pioneers. — Important Hap- 
penings in Its History. 



Compiled and Edited by Hon.P A. Philbin, 

Prof. James H. White, William D. 

McHale and F. A. Lally. 



1915 
CITIZEN PRESS 
ARCHBALD, PA. 



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llntvobuction i 



F ANY EXPLANATION IS NEEDED EOR 

♦/HITn) the printing of this book, it may be found 



..*. 



^^^^ in the ''Old Home" celebration wiiich 
^Im^ takes place here during- the week begin- 
ning July 5, 1915. The book is made up almost en- 
tirely of articles that have appeared in the Archbald 
Citizen at various times during the past twenty one 
years. They have, however, been re-written in some 
details and edited in others in order to bring the 
publication up-to-date. In addition, there are many 
facts stated that have never before appeared in print. 

The compilers were fortunate in having assistance 
in preparing this book from the only person in the 
town who was capable of giving it, for the reason 
that he is the sole survivor of those who came to the 
village in 1845 when the town may be said to have 

originated. Mr, Daniel J. Gilmartin was a boy [ 

when he came here, but he has a very keen recoil ec- f 

tion of the village and its pioneers, and his aid in the | 

preparation of this book was of great value. It is f 

a pleasure for the compilers to thus place on record I 

their indebtedness to Mr. Gilmartin for his generous | 

and willing help in gathering a mass of inform?) tion f 

concerning the early history of the town that could f 

not otherwise be obtained. To other residents of j 

the town who aided in the preparation of the work, J 

the thanks of the compilers are hereby tendered. [ 

THE COMPILERS. 1 

J 

Archbald, Pa., Julv 5, 1915. j 

i 
I 



3. 



} 



ARCHBALD BOROUGH 

Interesting Facts in its Early 
History-^^/Our First Burgess 




WRITE A HISTORY OF 

TArchbald from the very 
beginning it is necessary 
to go back to the year 
1841 when the first" log 
house was erected by a 
man named Anderson 
where the Dutch Hill 
School now stands. At 
this time the first turn- 
pike or stage road ex- 
tending from Providence 
(then Razorville) to Car- 
bondale passed through the Welsh 
settlement on the Ridge, now the 
Eynon section of Archbald borough. 
The part of this road between Jermyn 
and Mott Haven is still used to aome 
extent, in fact it forms the principal 
street in the village of Eynon. 

The site of the Archbald of today 
was at that time a dense wilderness 
of pine, interwoven with vines of 
wild grapes. Laurel and many varie- 
ties of shrubbery. This virgin forest 
soon attracted the attention of the 
Andersons, the Farnhams, the Deck- 
ers, the Watres', and others, and the 
building of saw-mills was soon com- 
menced. 

For about five years or until the 
year 1846, lumbering was the only 
industry, and a few hardy lumber- 
men and craftamon were the only in- 
habitants. 

The few dwellings comprising the 
settlement were clustered around the 
saw mills where life at its best must 
have been dull and monotonous. The 
forest abounding in game and the 
streams with fish we can imagine 
how the early settler spent much of 
his spare time. With the opening of 
the coal mines and the building of the 
Gravity railroad in 1846, the real 
history of Archbald begins. 

Archbald is now over thirty-eight 
years a borough. Although settled in 
1846 it was not incorporated until Feb. 
7, 1877. 

John B. Lack one of our best known 
residents who died several years ago, 
was the first burgess of Archbald. 
For nearly thirty years Mr. Lack had 
been more or less identified with loc- 



al affairs. He was one of the most 
active and public spirited citizens of 
old Blakely township and it was owing 
largely to his efforts that the move- 
ment for the creation of Archbald bor- 
ough was begun and carried to a suc- 
cessful issue. It was in recognition of 




JOHN B. LACK 

his interest in this matter that the 
people instinctively turned to nim 
when they were called on to select 
their first burgess and his conduct in 
office proved that they had made no 
mistake. 

The first election was held in Feb- 
ruary of that year. Previous to that 
time Archbald formed a part of Blak- 
ely township, which included Gib:on- 
burg (now Jermyn), Archbald, Win- 
I ton, Peckville, Olyphant and Dickson, 
j The old township itself, less thun a 
I hundred years ago, formed part of 
I Providence and Greenfield town;>ips. 
It was named for Captain JohiPon 
Blakely, of County Down, Ireland, and 
officer in the American navy, during 
the second war with England. 

The first settlement in Blaliely 
township was in what is now Dickson 
City borough. In 1786 a man named 
Stevens built a cabin there and in '814 
he put up the first mill in the town- 
ship. In 1795 Uicholas Lenthens built 



5. 



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Klot^ 










AGENTS:— KLOTS BROTHERS, 221 FOURTH AVE, ^ | 

NEW YORK. B 1 



MARCUS FRIEDER, President. 

GEORGE KLOTS, Vice President ..na ireasurer. 

W. J. KLOTS. Secretary. 

G. d. A. BELIN, Assistant Treasurer. 

FELIX FELZ, Assistant Secretary. 









A„ „i, n,i III 



,1 iiii__|,„__„i,__,ii|__i,ii__i,i, ,111 „ im jt, 



CARBONDALE, PENN'A. 
SCRANTON, PENN'A. 
FREDERICKSBURG, VA. 
CUMBERLAND, MD. 
AROHBALD, PENN'A. 
LONACONINa, MD. 
FOREST CITY, PENN'A. 
ALEXANDRIA, VA. 
KEYSER, W. VA, 



'"—"—"* 












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a log cabin where Peckville stantu; In 
1797 Captain John Vaughan, setded 
there and the following year came 
Moses Dolph. In 1840 the population 
of the territory included in the town- 
ship was only 590 and of this number 
only four were miners and one hun- 
dred and nineteen were farmers. The 
development of coal beds during- the 
ten following years attracted people 
to the valley and in 1850 the population 
had increased to 1703. At this time 
there was only one colliery in the 
township — the White Oak here, the 
breaker of which has since been aban- 
doned. The opening of the Pro>'id- 
ence and Carbondale turnpike also 
caused a rapid increase in population, 
because it made the coal fields more 
accessible, and by 1860 the population 
had increased one hundred per cent, 
over that of 1850. 



The first settlers in Archbald were 
Welsh emigrants who came here in 
1831 and settled on the "Ridge." hey 
were the families of John Evans, John 
D. Jones and Daniel and Evan Price. 
Three years later came John, Rjf se, 
David Davis, John Owens, Rev. John 
Davis and Deacon and John Biwen 
with their families. They cultiwted 
small pieces of ground there until 
coal was discovered underneath when 



they sold their lands to the TinkeT- f 
paugh Coal company. For many years I 
the Ridge was a distinctively Wefsh f 
settlement. Their well tilled farms J 
and comfortble homes gave evid».'nce I 
of the thrift and energy that mark the f 
true pioneers, but all have passed away I 
and there is little left, to tell of the I' 
struggles of those "knights errant of | 
the woods." The influx of the unde^ s 
veloped races of central and southern | 
Eui'Ope has had the effect of banisiung j 
the old settlers and their children to s; 
other places. Of the large Welsh set- i 
tlement in that part of our borough | 
thirty years ago there are not more f ■ 
than a dozen families left. ii 

The first settlers in Archbald prop- |,( 
er were the late Thom.as Swift, whose If 
son, the late John J., is said to have i'i 
been the first white child born in the |' 
village, the late Hon. M. M. Gikoy, the |' 
the late Frank Healy, the late Patrick |^ 
Gilmartin. They came here in 1845. j 
In 1846 White Oak mine was opened f 
and the gravity railroad was extended i 
here. The name of the post office was j 
"White Oak Run." It was subse- f 
quently cfhanged to "Archbald" by the I 
late Alvar Eaton in honor of fais j 
friend, Hon James Archbald. f 

The first postmaster of "White Oak I. 
Run" was G. H. Snyder and he was | 



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A. B. KIN BACK 




I Confectionery and Cigars jf 

I OLD HOME WEEK VISITORS WELCOME || 



Williams Ice Cream 



i MAIN STREET, 



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ARCHBALD, PA 

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7. 



appointed in 1847. In those days the 
mail was received by stage which ran 
between Carbondale and Providence 
regular trips were made between these 
places, road and weather permitting. 

The first hotel here was conducted 
by a man named Cannon. It was op- 
ened in 1846 or 1847 and the bui'ding 
used for that purpose was burnod in 
1862. 

The first store was opened in 1846 
by D. H. Taylor & Co. in a building on 
the public square. Soon after the op- 
ening of the Taylor store, John P. 
Farnham, Peter Walsh and Thomas 
Healey began business. Othev old 
time grocers were: Pt.trick Moyles 
John C. Peters and Thomas Kenny 

The first school was established 
here in 1847. The first school teacher 
was James Savage and he was of the 
old-fashioned type. The switch, dunce 
stool and the quill pen were in high 
favor in those days. The graded school 
building, removed in 1905 to make 
room for the present high school 
buil-ding, was erected in 1877. 

Our present borough government 
was formed in 1877. It was incorpor- 
ated in February and at the first elec- 
tion held in the same month the fol- 
lowing officers were elected: Burgess, 



John B. Lack, Council: Michael Spell- 
man, (President), Thomas Law, (Sec- 
retary), Thomas Malone, P. J. Henni- 
gan, John Hofsommer, chief of Police, 
M. J. Walsh; school directors, Dr. 
John Foote, Dr. J. W. Dick, J J. Kear- 
ney, J. J. Barrett, J T Swift, J. H. 
White; Justice of the Peace, Edward 
Carroll, P. J. White; high constable, 
J. J. Gilroy. The borough was divid- 
ed into wards in 1879. 

The fruitful subject of dispute for 
several years was the southern bound- 
ary of the borough. As the lines were 
originally drawn part of the Peck 
lands were in Blakely and pa't in 
Archbald borough. For convenience 
'. the owners of the land desired all Iheir 
I property located in Blakely borough 
! and court ordered a change in the 
j boundary of Archbald borough to con- 
I form with their request. The nev/ line 
; was not clearly rr.arked so the assess- 
j ors of Archbald and Blakely agreed 
j upon a line that was directly favor- 
! able to the latter borough. A great 
I deal of the land in dispute contained 
I coal and from this Blakely collected 
J tax for a number of years. In 1892, 
j after considerable expense to this boi*- 
i ough, a commission was appointed and 
I the line was re established. 



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Compliments qf the 

SCRANTON 

ELECTRIC CO. 



II 



11 






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COMPLIMENTS OF 




LEMENS 
SILK C0« 




Main Street v. v. Archbald 



9i. 






^rcpalb in 1850 



HOW THE PLACE APPEARED IN EARLY DAYS 
—CHANGE OF THREE SCORE YEARS— LARGE 
SETTLEMENT N0¥/ COVERED BY CULM— THE 
EARLY BUSINESS MEN JIND THE LOCATION 
OF THEIR BUSINESS PLACES— GOAL MINING 
IN THE EARLY DAYS— HOW THE BLACK 
DIAMONDS WERE SHIPPED TO MARKET. 



The abandonment of the Gravity 
railroad, has brought vividly to the 
mind of every old resident of Archbald 
and the upper Lackawanna valley, 
scenes and incidents closely connected 
with its early history and grov/th. 

How distinctly do we remember the 
primitive old road consisting of lines 
of ten by twelve hemlock rails firmly 
wedged in a tie or sleeper and capped 
by a hard wood ribbon and band of 
scrap iron spiked securely to the lails 
below. 

The cars, too, were correspondingly 
primitive in structure and diminutive 
in size, with their large open-spoked 
wheels, which made such a rattle and 
clatter as they passed through the 
wooded jungles and circuitous "v/ hid- 
ings of the road between Carbondale 
and Blakely (now Archbald) as to 
startle the deer, wolf and panther in 
the solemn stillness of their forest 
home. 

In those early days of mining the 
methods employed were entirely dif- 
ferent from those of today. The op- 
erations commenced by the Delaware 
and Hudson Canal Co., at Carbondale 
some twenty years before, had nov%^ ex- 
tended to Blakely or White Oak Run 
at it was frequently called and had 
wrought an entire change in that set- 
tlement. 

The lumber trade that had hitherto 
prospered had now received a fresh 
impetus by the opening of the coal 
mines on the east side of the town 
and the subsequent enlargement of the 
population, making Archbald a town 
of considerable ihnportance. 

When we consider the fact that the 
town was less than six years old we 
must conclude from the evidences of 
thrift, push and energetic effort of 
the people to build and improve the 



town, that, had these continued Arch- 
bald would today be a place of no 
mean proportions. 

But the romantic beauty of the sur- 
I rounding scenery and the quiet repose 
of the village itself which nestled so 
cosily in the shelter of the neighbor- 
ing hills have passed away forever, 
and vvith them has gone almost its en- 
j tire pioneer population. 

When we take a retrospective 
glance and mentally compare the 
tov.-n as we saw it in 1850 with Arch- 
bald as we see and know it today; we 
must confess that we have no reason 
to regret the many and varied changes 
that have taken place. 

While the passing years have ob- 
literated many of the old land-marks, 
and removed much of the original 
beauty and scenic grandeur of the 
place, still these same years have 
wrought changes infinitely more im- 
portant to us, changes that directly 
affect the home life, social environ- 
ment and domestic affairs of the 
people. 

Archbald has failed in some respect 
to keep pace with some of her young- 
er and more ambitious neighbors in 
their zeal to acquire size and com- 
mercial importance. Still Archbald 
and its people are not to be despised 
on account of this. It is less her 
fault than her misfortune. Fate seems 
to have vvilled it otherwise. 

To no cause can this lack of growth 
and business activity be more fitting- 
ly ascribed than to a desire on the 
part of some of the most fortunate, 
progressive and energetic residents 
to seek speculative investments 
abroad. Had their well directed ef- '• 
forts and liberal investments been , 
confined to the building up and devel- j 
opment of home industries and loeal j 



10. 



..—it 



f 






there can be no 
beneficent results 



doubt 
would 



institutions, 
at all that 
follow. 

While we are disposed to dwell par- 
ticularly upon the bright side of our 
local history, still we deem the causes 
which brought about results adverse 
to the prosperity and welfare of the 
people, altogether too important to be 
entirely overlooked. At no period of 
our existence could it be truthfully 
said that our people were less pro- 
gressive than any of our more preten- 
tious neighbors or have they shown 
less improvement alcng the lines of 
education, refinement, religious sin- 
cerity, and moral culture. 

How very few of the old landmarks 
are now left to either attract notice 
or serve in calling up from the leten- 
tive memory-cells in the brain the 
scenes and impressions imprinted 
there in the long ago. 

How vividly we recall the old store 
house at Scott's crossing where quan- 
tities of freight were daily transferr- 
ed from the old gravity cars. With 
what feelings of dread were we ac- 
customed to pass that haunted spot 
lest we beheld the grim specter said 



to dwell within its somber precincts 
after the shades of night had begun 
to fall. Fortunate also did the belat- 
ed way-farer consider himself if he 
succeeded in passing the old Hackley 
store on Main street without an en- 
counter with ghots or goblin sufficient 
to send chills cavorting along his 
spinal column. But these spookish 
fancies have long since vanished and 
the memory of them is all that is left 
today. 

One of the most noticeable blots on 
the beauty of the town is caused by 
the towering heaps of culm and rubb- 
ish around old White Oak co'.liery. 
On that sloping hillside in the fifties 
were situated cosy homes the m^ertiory 
of which has nearly passed away. 

In those days by far the major por- 
tion of the business places were clus- 
tered around the square on Bridge 
street. Here were located the gen- 
eral stores of Dan O'Hara, (Now M. 
J. Swift's,) Patrick Gilmartin, near 
the present homestead, and James 
Moyles, where M. T. Butler is doing 
business now, the confectionery of 
Thomas Bonner, in the adjoining 
building; the drug store of Dr. Van 
Antes, now John M. Burke's, the shoe 



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FLOWERS FOR ALL 



OCCASIONS 




C, H, GERBIG 

N. Main Street Archbald 



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=■ 1>-^ 1 -—:-_-—— ^r^-_—- '~"-^^^-<^^""^""^^!r^^ '"'"~ *""' ^*'" "" UU— lilt— N«— CH^— BM * "* "" . , J^ __"^ _. _."" ."^— ,_ t-"* "*** 




James F. 
Kearney 



Getiefal Instifance* 

Hattford Accident and Indem- 
nity Co. Represented. 

Fire, Life, Sick and Accidents, Plate Glass, 
Steam Boiler, Employer's Liability Insurance. 
Surety Bonds with Power of Attorney, Notary 
Public: Leases, Deeds, Applications for Auto- 
mobile License, Applications for Marriaoe Li- 
cense and all kinds of Notary woi-k. A^-ent 
for ^^ictor Safe and Lock Co. 

( )ftice hours nights from 7:00 P. M. to 9:00 P. M. 
for anything special that you wish to take up 
with tlie Burgess. 




Emporium of Jacob Ritter where Thos. 
Kenney now resides and the bhick- 1 
smithing establishment of John Swee- j 
ney at the bridge, and of David Wat- ' 
res, opposite the old borough building j 
the carriage factory, of Van Schaick 
and Son covered the Broderick lots, 
and by the way, this factory was one 
of considerable importance and mag- 1 
nitude giving employment to a num- 
ber of carriage builders, trimmers, ' 
painters, and blacksmiths skilled 
workmen capable of turning out work 
of every description which for beauty 
in design and durability in service had 
acquired an enviable reputation. 

The Farnham saw mill at the foot 
of plane B together with the mill of 
Squire Watres at Mt. Vernon, now 
Winton, and the sash and blind fac- 
tory operated by John and Henry Wil- 
kie, at the same place, also added 
much to the business activity and 
prosperity of the town. 

Many of the changes which follow- 
ed each other in rapid succession on 
the west side of the town were mainly 
due to the openings made in the rich 
field of anthracite underlying the 
Hackley estate. 

The firm of Eaton and Co., whose 
good fortune it was to secure an op- 
tion on this vast field of anthracite 
had not yet been formed. The indi- 
vidual members of this eminently suc- 
cessful company was each following 
his accustomed avocation totally un- 
conscious of the great measure of suc- 
cess which was to attend his first ven- 
ture in coal operations. The late Al- 
var Eaton, one of the most brainy and 
energetic men Archbald ever had for 
a resident, was at this time a track- 
layer in the mines of the Delaware 
and Hudson Canal Co., and it can be 
^trttthftilly sai'd that to the 'ability,' 
foresight and energy of Mr. Eaton 
much of the success and prosperity of 
the firm was due. The late George 
Simpson, also an active member of 
this company was at this time a sta- 
tionary engineer at old No. 1 engine 
on the bluff above White Oak break- 
er. The late Edward Jones, then in 
the emplov of the Dels. ware & Hud- 
son Canal Co., in the capacity of iore- 
man and mine superintendent, together 
with Dr. Wescott, a resident physic- 
ian on South Main street composed 
the company in its entirety. 

The first openings were made on 
the west side during the summer of 
1856 and a novel method was adopted 
for delivering the coal into the cars of 
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. j 
An incline plane running parallel with 
the openings, was constructed along 
the hill side. This plane had a double 



track. A car was controlled in its de- 
scent by a wheel and brake ai the 
head. A weighted truck in its de- 
scent was the motive power that drew 
an empty car on the opposite track 
alternately to each of the small sup- 
ply chutes into which the mine cars 
were dumped at the different open- 
ings. This car being loaded some- 
what heavier than the truck was per- 
mitted to descend to the large chutes 
in the rear of what is now the Dickson 
Store. Here the coal was loaded into 
gravity cars and drawn by horses ov- 
er a trestling to the foot of No. 1 
plane. This trestling crossed the riv- 
er in front of Jonas Berger's, building, 
the track passing near the residence 
of P. J. J'Rourke at the foot of Hill 
street. This plane was continued un- 
til the spring of 1859 when the open- 
ing of the road to Olyphant brought 
about changes that were merely but 
forerunners of still greater one.; oc- 
casioned by the erection of the coal 
breaker in 1860. With the advent of 
the coal breaker and the subsequent 
waste in the grinding and assorting 
of the coal into marketable sizes also 
commenced the piling up of those min- 
iature mountains of culm and other 
refuse, that so effectually destroys 
every vestige of rural beauty and has 
a tendency to shut out the light of day 
In those days Main street could 
boast of having some very extensive 
general stores. That of Simpson & 
Shea, where the Dickson Stare com- 
pany is doing business now, Reese & 
Ustick in the old Hackley building, 
now the property of Jonas Berger. 
Thomas Healey in the Healey bLiild- 
ing, now burned down, and the store 
and post office in the adjoining build- 
ing kept- by Holmes & Seybolt. In 
the early spring of 1858 the entire 
west side of Main street extending 
from Dr. Ottman's drug store (now P. 
J. Flannery's hotel) to the German 
Church was destroyed by fire and in 
the destruction was included the ex- 
tensive stores of Peter Walsh and sev- 
al other buildings. The fire is sup- 
posed to have originated in the care- 
lessness of one of the inmates of the 
Meihl building who usually went to 
bed accompanied by his constant com- 
panion — his pipe. His life paid the 
penalty of his negligence as his char- 
red remains were afterward recovered 
from the ruins. On South Main street 
were also located the only hotels in 
town. The old Moyles hotel, now oc- 
cupied by J. J. Newcomb, was the reg- 
ular stopping place for the stage 
coach in its daily trips between Car- 
bondale and Wilkes-Barre. The other 
kept by a man named Cannon, nearly 



♦ _., 



13 



+ 



opposite the site of Healey's old store, 
was a fair specimen of a first-class 
country tavern. 

Of the changes made along Main 
street none are more noticeable or 
shows more marked improvement and 
advancement than those made nlong 
the river front between the Dickson 
Coal Go's, store and the Presbyterian 
church. Of the number of prospeious 
business place located in this vicinity 
today Foote's Pharmacy alone was in 
existence even fifty years ago. The 
restaurant of Frank Kiefer where the 
hardware store of Wm. Bishop now 
Mellow & Carricolo stands, the Vos- 
burg meat market and the combined 
barber shop and tailoring establish- 
ment of John Broecker on the present 
site of the Odd Fellows building, have 
long since passed away. In fact Main 
street has been materially improved in 
its entire length by the erection of 
buildings upon the many vacant lots 
and the alterations and improvements 
made upon the old ones. This same 
spirit of improvement in the matter 
of buildings seems to have continued in 
this particular part of the town, ex- 
tending as it has to that portion of 
town which now comprises the second 
ward. Here regularly laid out streets 
and comfortable cozy homes have tak- 



en the the place of the isolated one 
story dwelling which at intervals dot- 
ed this wooded plain. 
Another noticeable feature in our sur 
roundings is the enitre obliteration of 
the straggling settlement made by 
the hardy, thrifty, law abiding Welsh 
pioneers on the Ridge. The settle- 
ment as we see it to day, has assumed 
the proportions of a town having a 
mixed foreign population of more than 
two thousand souls. 



D. & H. Pasenger Service. 



In the year 1859, the Delawaie & 
Hudson made their first attempt at 
establishing a passenger service be- 
tween Carbondale and Providence over 
their newly constructed railroad. 

This experiment was made by fitt- ? 
ing up a car of freight car type, a 1 
door at either end. Small single pane | 
windows at the sides furnished Mght f 
and ventilation. This car made at J 
first one trip daily. Although crude | 
in construction this venture was hber- [ 
ally patronized and was soon supplant- | 
ed by cars of a better type, well de- | 
signed for the ease and comfort of 1 
passengers. This was the beginning | 
of the now" superb D. & H. passenger = 



j miiiiiii|i|ij_ii_iiii£iijii:l£ji|illilililltlili™ 



1 |l 

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1 ii 
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1 ii 
1 11 
! 11 



WALSH 




LAUREL STREET, ARCHBALD, PA. 



I |i Confectionery, Ice Cream 
Cigars and Tobacco 



1 1; Complete Line of Sporting Goods 



1 1 

I l!ill>llHII<liliniLlilil!lillll|]|{l!l!i!lllllil!ll|i|||lill!l[|JII|lllll|]|il!llllllll^^ 



14 



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I 



0m €arlp ^cf)ools^ 



AN INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM THE PEN 
OF PROF. JAMES H. WHITE— THE TEACHERS 
AND METHODS OF OUR FIRST SCHOOLS. 



Archbald people have at all times 
shown a progressive spirit; but no- 
where is this spirit of improvement so 
marked as in the steady advancement 
of our schools from the most primi- 
tive stage to one fully in line with the 



It is to be regretted that this state 
of affairs still continues to exist, but 
is even still further advanced by an- 
other heavy drain upon the school 
room to supply operatives for the 
mills which are springing up around 



exacting requirements of the school i us. 

laws of Pennsylvania. Another disadvantage under -which 

If our schools during all those years | our schools had been working was the ', 
have been advancing steadily, the pro- 1 limited accommodations afforded by = 
gress made wa^ to a crrcat extent re- | our old high school building which 1 

I some forty years ago, was sufficiently | 
I large and modern to meet the educa- f 
I tional requirements of those days. The ! 
curriculum of our public school today f 
' embraces many different branches f 
i each of which requires for its proper 1 
! presentation the most modern and im- | 
j proved means of instruction, while the f 
I sanitary conditions and environment ' 
I of the pupils must not be neglected. | 
I Of the high grade of work bv-ing | 
j done in our schools at present and the f 
I outlook for the future, it is scarcely 1 
I necessary to say a word. Our people | 
I know and realize all that can be said f 
along those lines. Suffice it to say 1 
I that we live in an age that permits | 
I no delays nor baitings by the way- f 
PROF. JAMES H .WHITE. ^^^®- "^^e march of progress must i 

be continued upword and onward un- | 
tarded by the obstacles to be overcome til we have reached an exalted degree f 
and the disadvantage under which we of excellence and undoubted proficien- ' 
were working. Anyone at all con- cy. | 

versant with school methods or man- j To one who is permitted to look f 
agement, or who has given the matter j back over a period of almost tixty s 
any thought or consideration what- j years, as is the case of the writer of I 
ever, must admit that in order t ) se- 1 this article, he cannot fail to be im- j 
cure the best results m education the , pressed with the changes that have 




attendance on the part of the pupil 
must be regular and not spasmodic. 
It should be remembered too, that the 
law provides and intends that all our 
youths shall be educated to a certain 
extent and not a portion of them. 

In Archbald, as in every other min- 
ing town, one great obstacle lies in 
the fact that the necessities of our 
people frequently force a large por- 
tion of our youth into the mine and 
breaker instead of the school ivom. 



taken place in the growth and num- 
ber of our schools and the manner in 
which they are being conducted. Our 
boyhood days were spent in Archbald, 
our earlier instructions were rec.3ived 
in those pioneer schools of which I 
propose to write. Let it be understood 
that what I say of those early schools 
is not said in a spirit of raillery at 
their extreme simplicity but rather 
with feelings of veneration for the 
efforts put forth by those good teach- 



15 



ers who did the very best they could 
under the circumstances and with the 
means at hand. 

The early days were not very stren- 
ous tunes in educational advancement, 
although strenuous means were fre- 
quently employed by the teacher who 
was usually a man of heroic mold and 
questionable temperament. The 

school room he regarded as his em- 
pire and we poor timid pupils as his 
subject. How well he swayed the rod 
(not the proverbial rod of empire) 
over us, all of us who still survive 
have ample cause to remember. 

The ftrst schood in Archbald was a 
private school taught by Miss Elvira 
Munson, an aunt of General Osborne, 
of Wilkes-Barre, in 1846. The huld- 
ing in which she taught still stands in 
front of the Catholic church, the pro- 
perty of Thomas P. Moran. Miss 
Munson was succeeded by Wright 
Savage in 1848, who taught but a 
short time owing to the removal of 
his family to Dunmore. 

The first public school was taught 
by Alexander Farnham in 1850 in a 
one-story building on Academy street. 
The second school building was erect- 
ed in 1850 and a third in 1855. These 
were the only school buildings in 



Archbald up to 1860. During the ten 
years, the following persons taught 
those schools: Messrs A. Farnham, 
Joyce, Toohey, O'Brien; John Farn- 
ham, F. A. Spangenburg, J. J. Curtis, 
Jeremiah Reagan, Thomas Bonner, 
John Maghran, Mr. Burton, Mr. Po- 
lls, Patrick Carroll, W. H. Stanton and 
James Nolan. 

Of all these, we know of but three 
who are living today: Mr. Farnham, 
who is a successful lawyer in Wilkes- 
Barre; John Maghran, the well 
known commercial salesman of 
Scranton, and James Nolan, a 
successful farmer of Cherry Ridge, 
Wayne county. Many of those prior 
to their death occupied positions of 
trust and prominence in social, busin- 
ess and literary circles. Before clos 
ing this paragraph on the early stliool 
of our town, I feel it necessary to call ' 
attention to a private school taught 
in a building afterward owned and 
used as a residence by Chas. Law. 
This school was opened in 1858 by 
Selinas Lewis, a scholar of much at- 
tainment. 

This school was of an exceedingly 
high gi-ade. The branches taught were 
the higher mathematics, English 
grammar, and rhetoric, Latin, Greek 



* — 



Hotel 
Newcomb 



'+ 1 +'■ 
I 



■♦ £ 



JOHN NEWCOMB, Prop, j 
MAIN STREET. I 



Hote 
Lyric 

E. A. PADDEN, Prop. 
MAIN STREET. 



DC 



Wines, Liquors 
and Cigars 






Wines, Liquors 
and Cigars 



I _ 



4' 



1 

1 






ARCHBALD HIGH SCHOOL. 



and Hebrew. This school received 
its students from Carbondale and 
other towns in North Eastern Penn- 
sylvania. If we remember rightly, 
Mr. Lewis was an uncle of John R. 
Jones, prominent attorney of Scran- 
ton, now deceased. 

Among Mr. Lewis' pupils 
were: E. A. Garvey, now bishop of 
the Roman Catholic diocese of Al- 
toona; his brother Dr. J. Garvey, John 
Reap and John Henehan, of Pittston. 
He had many pupils in Carbondale al- 
so. 

In these days, the school laws of 
1854 had scarcely got into working 
order. A county superintendent had 



been provided but if his territory was 
large and his duties onerous, they did 
not seem to be over exacting as his 
periods of visitations were "like ang- 
els visits, few and far between." Ap- 
plications for the position of teacher 
were made directly to the secretary 
of the board whose duty it was to in- 
quire carefully into the qualifications 
and fitness of the applicant for the 
position sought. The matter of se- 
lecting a teacher v/as left entirely in 
the hands of the secretary and rarely 
did he make a mistake in the se'ection. 
No great degree of scholarship on 
the part of the teachers were deemed 
necessary by the board, although men 



17 



— ■— * 



Our Store Has Been 
In Constant Opera- 
tion For Over 1500 
Weeks - - - - 



w 



w 



f We have always tried to 

jj give entire satisfaction in our 

ii dealing-s with the public; we are 

J still anxious to serve our patrons 

|f by honest square dealing-s. 

^ During- Old Home Week, we ^ 

^ will strive to merit the confidence JjJ 

^ and trust of all the people and ^ 

J hope to do so for many weeks to J^ 

' come. HP 

For Old Home Week and # 

J every week in the year, you will S 

[ find merchandise of dependable W 

J quality and priced to suit the !E 

' purses of our customers at our If 

! store. 5 

i CawlcyBros. 5 



^ — „ ..„.. — ..„ ... 

of high scholastic attainments were 
frequently found filling these posi- 
tions. The course of study in tliose 
days was not a very extensive one. 
It was mainlv included in the three 
R's "Reading, 'Kiting and 'Rithmelic." 
The text books, were selected by the 
board, but provided by the pupils. 
Rarely indeed, did it occur that any 
one pupil had a full line of text books 
for even this limited course of study. 
It is difficult to describe the utter 
lack of adaptation of the text books 
to the work in hand. 

The early teachers, together with 
the board of directors, were men of 
character, men who seemed t^ lully 
realize that the quality of the educa- 
tion imparted must depend upon the 
character of the public schools and 
the qualifications of the teachers who 
managed them. What a man is to be- 
come, the child must first become in 
the elements of character and what 
the child is to become must be deter- 
s mined by the quality of the teaching 
and training he is to receive. If any 
portion of the human race is to be 
raised from the degradation of ignor- 
ance, it must be done through the 
power of wise teaching during the 
period of childhood and youth. Im- 
Ijued with such ideas is it any >von- 
der that their efforts were crowned 
by a measure of success, fully in 
keeping with the means at hand. 

The word method for beginners in 
reading had not yet come into use. 
The alphabet was the bed rock found- 
ation upon which the whole structure 
of educational progress rested. 

Whether the change to modern 
methods has been a change for the 
letter is questionable. It is true how- 
ever that much good work may be 
done by either system and vice versa. 
The first, second and third readers 
were bv different authors. The sub- 
ject matter was good but the grading 
was lost sight of. The fourth and 
highest grade was "The English 
Reader," a work that would fit in very 
well in the schools of today as a IHer- 
ary reader. It contained extracts 
from the orations of Demosthenes, 
Cicero and Cataline with selections 
from the English poets and other lit- 
erary gems. There is one thing how- 
ever can be said of the schools of the 
old days, they sent out good spellers, 
good readers, good penmen and good 
accountants, four essentials even in 
our advanced system of education. 
The few important branches that were 
taught were taught well and thoro- 
ughly. 

In 1858 Archbald proper had but 



three one story single room buildings 
valued at about two thousand dollars. 
One of them is nov/ the millinery 
shop of Gilmartin & Moran, v/hich 
was at that time located in the rear of 
the Catholic church. Another was 
one the site of John M. Doucher's 
on Hill street. The building has long 
since passed away. The other was on 
Academy street in the rear of Flan- 
nery's hotel. The building is now a 
dwelling and belongs to the Kinback 
estate. 

In the early sixties the overcrowd- 
ing of the school necessitated the erec- 
tion of two additional buildings, one 
on South Main street, now used as a 
residence and owned bv the late 
Michael Gilgallon; the other on Cem- 
etery street now the home of the late 
Patrick McNulty. 

Many of those who so' ably filled 
the position of teacher in these 
schools, have since passed away. A 
few however are living and filling 
prominent positions today. Of the 
good, zealous and unselfish men who 
as directors worked so presistently 
for the advancement of education in 
those early days, not one is living to 
contemplate the extent to which their 
earnest efforts haxe expanded. 

Before 1875, when the old high 
school was built, the schools of the 
borough were not graded. Each of 
the three schools had complete and 
independent branches as were taught 
in those days. With the erection of 
the high school, there was a graded 
system introduced. The first prin- 
cipal was the late Hon P. J, White 
who taught in the old building from 
1875 to 1880. Prof. Shiel of Pittston, 
deceased, was principal during the 
term 1880-1. In the latter year the 
trouble between the Gilroy and the 
Miller board reached such an acute 
stage that two separte sets of schools 
were maintained. 

Mr. White was principal for the 
Gilroy board and he taught for that 
board in the term 1880-1. In 1881-2, 
Mr. Shiel was principal for the Mill- 
er board, which conducted a school in 
the building on N. Main street occu- 
pied by George Bishop. James H. 
White, v/as acting principal for this 
board during the term of 1882-3 and 
Miss Margaret Foote during the term 
1883-4. P. H. Kearney, now a prom- 
inent eye specialist in Scranton, was 
principal for the Gilroy board from 
1881 to 1884 in the old High School 
building. Prof. R. N. Davis, now 
curator at the Everhart Musemun in 
Scranton served as principal from 
1884 to 1897. In the latter year Prof. 



"" 19 



+ — .. 



W. A. Kelly suceeded him. Mr. Kelly 
was made suferintendent of the bor- 
ough schools in 1904. Mr. Kelly is a 
graduate of the Parsons public school 
and of Mansfield State Normal School. 
He taught in Parsons for several years 
before coming to Archbald. 



OTHER EARLY TEACHERS 



THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE 



Several Who Taught Herf 
Beyond Mr. White's 
Recollections. 



From a gentleman whose recollec- 
tion goes beyond that of this writer 
we Ie?,rn that the firs; teacher, Mr. 
Savage was assisted by Miss Benja- 
min of Peckville, a sister of the late 
Richard Benjam.in. She taught liere 
in 1848. Mr. Savage was succeeded 
by a Mr. Ellis, Another early teach- 
er was Miss Mott. also of Peckville, 
v/ho taught a private school in a 
building on the Broderick lot. She 
came here late in '46. Her niece, 
whose name is not remembered taught 
on the Ridge in 1859. John Walsh 
eame here about 1850 and taught in 
a building located on the Anr.'iony 
Dougher lof en Hill street. Mr. Chil- 
ton taught en Academy street in 1854. 
Mary A. Kirkv/ood taught in 18;j6 in 
the building on Hill street on lot oc- 
cupied by Wrn. Dougher. Miss Wil- 
son of Carbondale taught in the Mor- 
rn building in '56 and Myron Hall 
taught there in 1851. Mr. Pearson 
came here in 1860 and taught in the 
G?,me building. John Rutledge of Pitts- 
ston, later of Olyphant, taught in the 
Gillgallon building on Main street in 
1866 and his assistant was Miss Mary 
Gilroy, later Mrs. A. C. Campbell,, 
now deceased. 

The late Hon. P. J. White came 
here in 1858 and taght for a while in 
the Moran building. About 1860 he 
went to Hyde Park. He returned to 
Archbald in 1867 and taught without 
interruption until 1880. He taught in 
many parts of the borough and was 
first principal of our graded school. 

Another teacher of the early 60's 
was Miss Mary Kearney of Salem 
street, later Mrs. Michael Donnelly, 
of Jessup. She taught in the Mc- 
Nulty building on the East Side. 
Another early teacher in the same 
building was a Mr. Roach, of Dun- 
more, father of late Hon. D. M. Roche. 
Later teachers in that building were 
Miss Mary Grogan, later Mrs. Peter 
Cawley and the late John J. Timlin. 



Tear it, beam and joint and raftti, 

Raze it to the earth, 
Statlier walls will rise hereafter, 

Like a Phoenix birth. 
Who would stop the wheels of progress f 

Must be hard to please, i 

Let the youth have newer beauties I 

We have memories. T 

Quicker than the workmen raze it, I 

We can build it up J 

In our heart of heart, and praise iC. | 

Filling Memory's cup; 1 

Simple days of happy childhood, ] 

Dreams of long ago, j 

These arise like woodl5)nd odors l 

From the waste and woe. j 

Tear it, beam and joint and rafter | 

Raze it to the earth, | 

Statlier walls will rise hereafter, f 

Like a Phoenix birth; i 

Fa.irer walls, but non so sacred J 

To our hearts, as these, | 

Tear it down but do not pluck i' i 

From our memories. | 

DR. JOHN A FOOTE I 



• „ „„ „„ ,,., ,,„ ,1,1, I 



May Need in Ihe 



Candy? Cigars 

Tobacco, 

Etc. 



— 0- 



+ — .. 



Mrs. Anna 
McKeon 

GILMARTIN STREET, I 1 

I I 

I .|. _. — . . . ♦ I 

. ._„,_„._„. . ,_ + 

20 



THE OLD GRADED SCHOOL 



AFTER THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE THE 
STRUCTURE WAS RAZED TO MAKE ROOM FOR 
THE PRESENT BEAUTIFUL HIGH SCHOOL. 



The old graded school buiidiny of 
the Archbald school district was razed 
in 1905 to make room for the prt:;ent 
stately and imposing building, ftiere 
was more or less sentiment connected 
with its demolition, for in the old 
school many of the men of today were 
educated. 

The graded building was erected in 

1875. It was built when this ti wn 

formed a part of Blakely town .ship, 

'i and it was the first graded school 



from the late John Flynn of Taorel 
street. 

The building was put up by Con- 
tractor Flannery, of Dunmore and it 
was finished in the late Fall of 1875. 
The first principal of the school was 
Hon. P. J. White. Other principals 
succeeding him were: Robert Shiel, 
deceased of Pittston, R. N. Davi.'^, of 
Dunmore, and the present superin- 
tendent W. A. Kelly. 

The directors in office when it was 







building in the territory comprisjo-l in 
the district. 

It was built only after gi'eat orp usi- 
tion on the part of the school direct- 
ors representing the Olyphant syetion 
of the district. Their opposition was 
eventually overcome and the school 
board put up what was then consider- 
ed an excellent building. It cost, 
with the lot on v/hich it was biult. 
about $14,000 The lot was bought 



erected were; Patrick Boland, prosi- I 
dent; Anthony Walsh, secretary; John f 
F. Swift, treasurer and Richard ond % 
Patrick McHale of Olyphant. I 

Mfny men and women prominent T 
here and elsewhere, were educated s 
within the walls of this building. It I 
was a bone of contention during the | 
school troubles of the early 80's when | 
its possession was sought and hold by j 
physical force. The old building was | 
bought by A. J. Cawley for $300. | 



21 



I 
1 
1 

1 

1 

i 
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1 
I 



OL.Ci THEATRICALS 



WHEN EX-JUDGE STANTON PLAYED HAMLET 
GREAT ACTORS WERE RARE— "THERE WERE 
BUT TWO, FORSOOTH, IN ALL THAT TIME, 
THE STAGE'S PRIME; AND THE OTHER ONE 
WAS BOOTH."— MANY PLAYS PRODUCED. 



In the early days of coal mining in 
the anthracite region, the miner was 
one of the best paid of craftsmen. 
Trade was brisk and the good wages 
and steady work attracted a cla?s of 
workmen, that, in point of education 
and general intelligence, were far 
superior to the foreign element that 
now seeks work in the coal mines. 
With these conditions, it was not sur- 
prising that adventurous professional 
and business men should consider the 
coal fields an excellent field for en- 
terprise, and that many of them had 
left the larger cities and towns to lo- 
cate in the small, but promising set- 
tlements that dotted the Lackawi-nna 
and Wyoming valleys. 

Archbald was one of the oldest, and 
in mineral wealth, the richest of these 
settlements. Few, indeed, of the 
neighboring communities at that time 
v/ere blessed with anything like what 
in the cities is called "society," but 
Archbald contained a circle of men 
and women who possesed a taste for 
literature, music and the drama, and 
who cultivated and exercised that 
taste as best as they could with '.heir 
meagre facilities and forbidding envi- 
ronment. Shut out, though they were, 
from intercourse with the world by 
the encircling hills and the evergreen 
forests, thev decided to make a \vorld 
of their own, and to enjoy in their 
primitive community those pleasures 
and refinements v/hich are consider- 
ed especially the privilege of the 
dwellers in large cities. 

The first move in this direction was 
made on May 2, 1866, when twenty 
young men met and organized a 
dramatic society which they called 
the Young Men's Institute. Kon. 
William H. Stanton, of Scranton, 
now deceased, then of Archbald, who 
afterwards became a member of Con- 
gress, and subsequently judge, was 
President; M. M. Kearney, now de- 
ceased, was Secretary, and Jacob Al- 
liard, was Treasurer. There wat. al- 



so an executive committee consl.sting 
of Chas. S. Culver, Theodore M. Mill- 
er, Edward W. Carroll, William H. 
Kearney and Dr. John Foote. The 
perplexing and diplomatic duty of 
this committee was to select plays for 
presentation, and allot the parts to 
the members of the society. That 
their path was not always strewn 
with roses is shown by the fact that 
three months after organization it 
was found necessary to insert a clause 
in the minute book of the society, 
which gave the majority of the com- 
mittee absolute power to proceed in 
the face of grumbling or dissatis- 
faction on the part of the minority. 

Ort's hall, a large, barn-like struc- 
ture which was situated on South 
Main street, where the late Kenry 
Pfocr's residence is now located, was 
the temple where these primitive dis- 
' ciples of Thespis made their first of- 
, fering. Their first production was 
I the old play "The Drunkard," and to \ 
i show their familiarity with the legit- f 
imate they also gave several scenes i 
from "Hamlet." W. H. Stanton m.ade ' 
an excellent Hamlet, but his masLer- 
j ful impersonation of the melan.-holy 
[ Dane v/as lost on the audience when 
j they saw "Billy" Kearney's very sub- 
! stantial delineation of the Ghost. It 
I seems that Mr. Kearney's ghost was 
i a lively, sprightly creature that was 
i fair of proportion, and that instead 
1 of frightening women and making 
babies cry, this ghost seemed to lend 
an air of mirth to the otherwise mor- 
[ bid and sanguinary drama. The aud- 
i ience agreed at the close of the per- 
! formance that with the possible ex- 
, ception of the duel scene, the ('-host 
scene was the hit of the evening. 

But the duel scene was a thrilling 
and realistic combat. Thomas Law, 
who is now a resident of Scrajiton, 
was Laertes, and proved himself an 
expert fencer. But for once he was 
taken off his guard by the fiery and 
impetuous Hamlet, and he received a 



22 



garh on the right hand that was not 
advertised on the program. The King 
descended from his throne, secured 
some sticking plaster from Dr. Foote 
with which to repair the injury, and 
the duel was then resumed, with the 
usual, happy result. 

Many other pieces were presented 
and a performance was given almost 
every month. Dr. John Foote paint- 
ed several scenes, and then when chey 
had improved their stage facilities the 
society was enabled to attempt some 
more pretentious plays. 

To such a degree of perfection did 
they arrive that in 1867 they journey- 
ed to Carbondale and gave a week's 
performance at the Court house, as 
Carbondale had no opera house. They 
carried their scenery and stage prop- 
erties with them and gave a change 
of bill nightly. Some of the plays 
they presented there were 'The 
Drunkard," "Maurice, the Woodcut- 
ter," "The Irish Exile," "Handy 
Andy," "Solon Shingle," "Turn Him 
Out," "Bombastes Furioso." That the 
people of the Pioneer city enjoyed and 
appreciated their performances is 
shown by the fact that the company 
netted $141.35 from the week's work. 

The organization continued in a 
flourishing condition until 1869, v/hen 



Ort's hall containing all their prop 
erty was destroyed by fire. Some lime 
later it was re-organized under the 
name of "The Archbald Institute" and 
for many years this organization was 
a source of entertainment and culture 
to the community. Swift's hall was 
their theatre and a stage was erected 
by the late Henry Wilkie containing 
all the mechanical contrivances of the 
modern stage, and a full set of scen- 
ery painted by Dr. Foote. Many really 
meritorious performances were given 
there, and the repertoire of the com- 
pany included the best productions of 
the English dramatists, as well as 
many pieces adapted from the French. 
Of the original members of the old 
Young Men's Institute but a fev/ re- 
main with us. Some have moved 
away to busier communities and have i 
been rewarded with the success after 
which they strove, and some hav3 re- 
ceived the final summons to make 
their exit from the stage of Life and 
receive judgment on the manner in 
which they played their "many parts." 
The few that are amongst us are to 
be envied, for their's was the joy of 
living in the Archbald of the olden 
time before the woodman's axo and 
the miner's pick had seared and black- 
ened her beautiful verdure-clad hills. 



Illlllllill 






I 1 



Hotel Metropole 

C. F. REEDY PROP. 

WAYNE STREET, ARCHBALD, PA. 







Fell Beer 
Always on T&.p 



li 






.— + 



They are to be envied, for to-dav the 
dreamy silence of the mountain, the 
awesome mystery of the forest, and 
its spectral shadows that flitted 
through the sombre aisles of pine and 
fir and seemed to whisper in wiiiffs 
of fragrant balsam, so sweet to the 
simple dwellers of the valley — all 
have changed or vanished before the 
march of progress and industry. 

The financial secretary's liook 
which was left in the hands of the last 
secretary, D. J. Gilmartin gives the 
original roll of members of the soci- 
ety as follows: John Foote, M. D., M. 
M. Kearney, Jacob Ballinger. Edward 
Carroll, Wm. H. Stanton, William H. 
Kearney, Daniel Gilmartin, Ch.irles 
Culver, James H. White, William Gil- 
martin, Thomas Gilmartin, Patrick 
Gilmartin, George Eaton, Thomas 
Law, Baltasar Alliard, John Corcoran, 
William Gilgallon, Patrick H. Gilgal- 
T Ion, Theodore M. Miller and Thomas 
Malone, Miss Marie Kearney, the late 
Mrs. Donnelly, of Jessup, Miss Ca?sie 
Atkinson, who became Mrs. Quinn 
and removed to one of the wefclern 
states and Miss Carrie Miller wlio is 
now Mrs. Wm. Calloway, of Scrr.nton, 
appear on the book as honorary mem- 
bers. 



THE OLD F. M. OPERA HOUSE i 



For many years the old Father 
Mathew hall, now occupied by the 
Novelty Theater, was practically the 
only opera house here, the hall hav- 
ing been built largely for the purpose. 
It was opened on November 10, 1882 
with a performance of "A Celebrated 
Case" which has been recently revived 
in New York. The cast was made up 
largely of those who figured in the 
old Dramatic Institute and of those 
who participated in the opening per- 
formance only T. A. White, P. C. Gil- 
martin, W. H. Blake Mrs Clarence 
Samcn, Mrs. John O'Rourke and Mrs. 
J. W. Beck are living to-day. The 
last performance v/as given Septem- 
ber 23, 1903 by the Burke-McCann Co. 
Later the building was occupied by 
the Archbald Silk Co. At present it 
is owned by the Cawley estate and 
used as a Nickelet. 

A welcome visitor here in the 70's 
and 80's was the "Dublin Dan Com- 
pany with John M. Burke in the title 
role. Other pi'ominent members of 
the Company were Annie F. Irish, 
William Ashton and Harry F. Hall. 
Their performances"were usually given 
in Moyles' hall, which has since been 
converted into a dwelling. 




M. J. SWIFT, Prop. 
CHURCH bTEEET 




Wines^ Liquors 
and Cigars 



*=: 



I 



'■' "" "'■ "" i«— 10j» 




I 
I 

24 



MAIN STREET. 
Ml I a} 

JOSEPH 
MELLOW 

PfOp. 



—•- — '•-••- — •♦ I 



*—"—"—" "' 



4» 



IN THE CIVIL WAR 



THE MEN WHO WENT TO THE FRONT IN '61— 
HOW THE WAR NEWS WAS RECEIVED HERE. 



Archbald since it became a town 
was prompt to respond to calls for the 
defense of the national governii.ent 
in time of war. Her sons have always 
stood ready to "gird their loins for 
fight" when the interests of our roiint- 
ry required it. The town was ."ust 
coming into existence when the war 
with Mexico broke out but hostilities 
did not last long and there was no 
great need of volunteers. Neverthe- 
less, one of our citizens took part in 
that struggle. John Hess, "fought his 
country's battles' way down in 
Mexico" and he lived there for many 
years after the war ended. 

When the war for the extinctioi of 
slavery broke out, there was a strong 
opposition sentiment here. In those 
days the township (it then formed a 
part of Blakely) was strongely De:T.o- 
cratic. The temporizing policy of Bu- 
chanan's administration found many 
supporters because a majority of the 
people were Democratic and the ad- 
ministration was of the same poiitical 
faith. The people had no symp.ithy 
with slavery, hov.'ever. Many of them 
were exiles from a system that, in 
some respects, resembled the evil in 
the South and they did not cross the 
ocean to encourage any movrnient 
that was intended to perpetuate it. 
They disliked to desert their party, 
they stuck to it until war had actually 
begun, and many of them remamed 
Democrats until long after the war 
ended. 

But all the Democrats were nor op- 
ponents of the strong policy of Lin- 
coln. Indeed, when the crisis ?ame 
they went to the front with the same 
alacrity as did many of their fellow- 
citizens of other political views. When 
Fort Sumter was fired on and Pr-esi- 
dent Lincoln issued his call for 7i),000 
volunteers so many of our young men 
responded that it was not possible to 
make room for them ail, the number 



alloted to Pennsylvania being full. 

The list of Archbaldians who re- 
sponded to the call to save the Union 
is as complete as it is possible to 
make it. It is as follows: Owen Flah- 
erty, James Pidgeon, Deidrich Dus- 
enbrook, Wm. Gilroy, Peter McAnd- 
rew, John Lally, John Brogan, Mich- 
ael Dunn, John White, Francis Bol- 
and, John Burke, P. J. Coolican, Bry- 
an, Flaherty, Henry Linderman. John 
Law, Conrad Bachman, Elias Pfoor, 
Conrad Schifler, James Hadley, Fi'ank 
Shannon, James McGrail, Henry Nei- 
mayer, C. C. Battenberg, H. C. Miller, 
Nathan B. Brown, Nelson La Rose, 
Owen Moyles, Conrad Grabb, Joseph 
OUendyke, August Zimmerman, Thom- 
as Dougherty, Patrick Hunt, Wi-mot 
Vail, Henry Welch, Thomas Ma'ione, 
James Nicholson, Patrick Duffy, Fred- 
erick Eaton, Preston Eaton, Himry 
Zimmerman, Charles Culver, Koese 
Williams, Patrick McDonnell, Patrick 
Gallagher, Patrick Walsh, John 
Stanton, Dennis Smith and John Big- 
lin. 

During the years of the Civil War 
it is worthv of note how quickly the 
news of battles fought and authentic 
lists of the killed, wounded and miss- 
ing were published. The Philadelphia 
papers were relied on most especially 
the Inquirer, this paper having spec- 
ial correspondents with every 
Pennsylvania regiment, who promptly 
reported all losses. 

We remember distinctly how the 
news of the assassination and death of 
President Lincoln was received and 
circulated on the morning of April 15 
1865. Although the morning was a 
rainy one the news spread in a .short 
time to every part of the town. 

Horror at the dastardly act of the 
assassin and a heartfelt sorrow for 
the m.artyred president were heard on 
every side. 




— '♦• 



1+.— 

I 



THE GLACIAL POT-HOLE 



THE GREAT WORK OF NATURE IN ARCHBALD 
THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD— HOW THE 
MARVELOUS NATURAL CURIOSITY WAS 
FORMED AND HOW DISCOVERED BY A MINER. 



In the golder summertime there is 
no more popular place in this locality 
than the Glacial Pot-hole at the 
(Ridge) Eynon. Scarcely a season 
passes that does notb ring its quota 
of visitors to the great marvel Ol na- 
I ture. Nor is this surprising in view 
I of the fact that the Archbald Pot-hole 
I is the largest in the world, surpassing 
'i in size even the more noted pot-holes 
J of Switzerland and other parts of the 
i world. It is so long since it was dis- 
I covered and so few know how ge v)log- 
I ists acount for it formation that the 
I brief sketch given herewith will have 
] at least an instructive value. 
I The pot-hole is located on the Hack- 
s ley track in this borough. It was dis- 
i covered in April 1883 by Patrick Ma- 
j hady a miner employed by Jones 
Simpson & Co. The men were open- 
ing a chamber in an airway and they 
struck the pot-hole after discharging 
a blast. Thev immediately reported 
to the operators that they had found 
an outcrop, but the latter knew this 
could not be so and continued to pros- 
ecute work at that point. Large round 
stones and gravel began to pour into 
the mine, and after removing g-reat 
quantities of this the rim of the hole 
was found. The pot hole was then 
bratticed and used as an air shaft. 
Negotiations were begun for the pur- 
chase of the ground suroundiny; the 
pot-hole. Col. Hackley the ov^ner, 
declined to sell, but he apropriated 
$500 for the preservation of the pot- 
hole in the interests of science. A 
substantial stone wall was built 
around the hole and the grounds were 
otherwise improved under the direc- 
tion of the late Edward Jones, an en- 
thusiastic student of geology who was 
particularly interested in this po^-hole 
because it was uncovered by some of 
his employes. 

Soon after the discovery of this an- 
other and larger pot-hole was found 
about 950 feet to the northeast. This 
has not been uncovered because of 
the effect it would have on the inine 



which is still in operation. There are 
other but much smaller holes in eth- 
er parts of the borough, especially 
along White Oak creek, but the one 
uncovered at the Ridge is the mo.st im- 
portant of all. 

The pot-hole is at the foot of a 
precipitous, wooded hill. The hole is 
not round. The shape is rather more 
oblong, and the walls are worn smooth 
The depth is about forty-five feet; its 
greatest diameter is twenty feet and 
its least diameter is eighteen feet. 
When it was discovered it was prac- 
tially filled with stones varying in 
weight from a few grains to twenty 
pounds. They were worn almost per- 
fectely round. 

In the winter of 1883 Jones, Simp- 
son & Co., informed State Geologist 
J. P. Lesley of the discovery of the 
pot-hole, and in a letter in reply Mr. 
Lesley said. 

"The Archbald discoverv is a fine 
case of a well known phenomenon 
called a glacial pot-hole. There is a 
public garden in the city of Lucerne, 
Switzerland, where five or six of these 
are kept open for the amusement and 
instructon of the public. When they 
were cleaned out, a number of the 
rounded stones (some of large bize) 
were left in them so that people could 
see how the holes were made. 

The glaciers of the Jungfraw, Wit- 
terhorn and other mountains once 
flowed down over the city of Lucerne , 
and far out into the plam of Switzer- 
land, and even reached the Jui-a moun- 
tais a hundreds miles distant. This 
was in the cold age of the world, im- 
mediately preceding the appearance of 
mankind. 

All the Alpine glaciers have now 
shrunk back into the higher valleys 
leaving behind them millions of locks 
of all kinds on the surface, however, 
some of those stones were kept roll- 
ing round and round by the melting 
waters, 
ers. 

The traveler on any of the Alpine 



-|m_.. 



2f) 



I 



glaciers has an oportunity to see how 
these holes were made, because r.imi- 
liar ones are being made todav. The 
surface of a glacier melts under the 
hot sunshine, flows over the su.fare 
of the ice and plunges into crevices to 
the low bed of the valley dov/n v/hich 
the glacier is moving. These water- 
falls make deep pot-holes wherever 
they keep rocks twirling round in de- 
pressions of the valley bed. 

When a pot-hole is finished by a 
change in the location of the v/ater 
fall, it gets filled with smaller round- 
ed boulders, gravel and sani. If 
there were any horizontal coai beds 
not far underneath the bed of an Al- 
pine valley such a coal bed would be 
sure to have one or more glacial pot- 
holes in it, perhaps going clear 
through it, filled with gravel. 

Now in that cold age, Canada, New 



England, New York, Northern New 
Jersey and Northern Pennsyh'ania 
dov/n to a line stretching from Olean 
through Ralston, Berwick and Eckley 
to Belvidere and Amboy, were entirely 
covered with a solid continuous .sheet 
of ice in some places 3,000 feet thick 
(in New Hampshire 6,000 feet) mov- 
ing southward carrying rocks of all 
kinds and sizes, plowing and scratch- 
ing the surface of the country, and 
making pot-holes of various depths 
from 10 to 70 and 80 feet, most of 
which are now concealed by a thick 
covering of drift, that is, the gravel, 
s^nd and clav which the ice, ca.-ried 
forward as it advanced, and left be- 
hind it when it melted. 

"Many of these pot-holes have been 
accidentally uncovered (like yours) 
and have always been found filled 
with gravel of a foreign origin, no 




THE GLACIAL POT HOLE. 

" 27 



I 
-4» 



*i*"*~~"" ii1I«— un-^ii" «" I'l M' 



n nr: un 1 1, cii i.:: im iin uti iin— — iio— — nw.^— OH^— iB^— t^ 



s matter what the formation was in 
which the pot-hole was excavated. In 
some, exposed by cutting a mill race 
west of Albany, the bones of a mam- 
moth were found mixed with gravel. 

"We have calculated the tickne^s of 
the ice where it moved over Strouds- 
burg, in Monroe county, at about 1,- 
500 feet. It was deep enough to ':ross 
the Kittatinny mountains at Delaware 
Water Gap, where it has left on the 
top of the mountains large masses of 
limestone torn off from the outcrop 
in Godfrey's ridge, near Stroudsburg, 
and therefore carried up by the ice a 
thousand feet. The ice was thick 
enough to move over the great high- 
lands of the Pocono Mountain between 
Scranton and Stroudsburg more than 
2,000 feet above the sea. I have no 
doubt that the ice at Archbald was at 
least $2,000 feet thick and it carried 
fragments of your coal itself from 
come of your exposed outcrops (ex- 
f posed at that time, but covered up 
i with drift now) from the bottom of 
the Lac'awauna Valley to the top of 
Bald Mountain, and that they now be 
scattered over the wilderness highland 
of the headwaters of the Lehigh River 
and that they v;ill be discovered there 
if ever railroad or other cuttings were 



made through the drift ridges on that 
table land. 

"It would be well worth your while 
to examine closely the cuts along the 
line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & 
Western Railroad for bits of anthra- 
cite coal and conglomerate which 
have been carried from Carbo.idale 
and Archbald and left there by the ice. 
"Your discovery happens to be one 
of the very finest illustrations of the 
subject which we have had the good 
fortune to encounter." 

When the pot-hole was discovered 
the stones and gravel it contained 
resLed on a cone of coal. Mine Fore- 
, man James M. Eaton's attention was 
I called to it and he ordered the mmer 
' to blast the coal. When this v/as 
done the stones came tumbling into 
the airwav Avith such an awful roar 
that the -miners who had gatliered 
neax thought the mountain v/as com- 
ing in on them. Some of them left 
the mine, so frightened were they. 
' Ihe debris that filled the pot-hole was 
I removed bv a gang of men under the 
direction of the late Hon. M. M. Gil- 
' roy. Souvenirs of the discovery in 
j the shape of round stones were very 
I common here and are still preserved 
! in man" hom.cs in town. 






'" "" '■" ' ^ ■ " '■" " "" "" "" '■"' ▼ 




P. J. FLANNER.i" Prop. 



WINES 



>UORS 



i I 



MAIN STREET. 



^ .._.=_». . . 






BURYING THE DEAD. 



How- 



It Was Done in Archbald 
the Early Days, 



There were few people in the town 
who knew more about its early his- 
tory than did the late Jacob Ritter. 
While he was not engaged in guarding 
the majesty of the law, as tipstaff, a 
position he held until death claimed 
him, Mr. Ritter spent all his tim.e 
within the shadow of his own vine and 
fig tree When he was in a reminis- 
cent mood there was nothing more de- 
lightful than his talk about old times. 
A funeral passing his hom.e one day 
recalled the burial customs that pre- 
vailed here in the early days and 
prompted him to speak of the changes 
time had made even in our treaiment 



of the dead. "When I came here," 

I said Mr. Ritter, "there was no such 

thing as a hearse in this part of the 

I valley and there were no great pre- 

j parations made for a funei-al. When 

anyone died it was the custom to go 

I to a carpenter or coffin maker and 

I have a box made large enough to hold 

i-the body of tlie deceased. In town 

the principal coffin maker was August 

Miller, the father of the well known 

Miller family who later started the 

Jermyn Coffin and Casket factory. 

In those days people were not in the 

habit of paying high prices for coffins. 

I You could get a pretty good one for 

; six or seven dollars and for one made 

of fine hardwood you would pay ten 

or twelve dollars and there woudn't 

I be much fancy work on it either^ but 

\ it served just as well as the expen- 

; sive caskets of today." 



^ 



lilllllllilllllillllllllllllllllilll 



llilllllllllllllllllllllllllllillliillll 
, — ,.4. 









1 I 





I ! 
I I 

1 i 



The Stores That Turn Pass 
Books Into Bank Book«/* 



^ •••" uii^^uii "" nil «■ ''" "" "" nil— MM— Hit— an nii— mi nH-«>N " ^" ▼ ^ 

il'illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^ T 



4.._.. .._.._.._.._.._. — . ._... 

"Of course everybody held a wake 
for two or three days and everybody 
else considered it a duty to pay re- 
spect to the dead. In those days there 
was the best of feeling between people 
of every class and as the number of 
people in the town was small every- 
body went to the funeral. The funer- 
al was very much the same then as it 
is now except that every man in the 
procession was a pall-bearer. When 
the corpse was taken to church or 
to the grave yard the coffin rested on 
a bier, resembling a stretcher with 
four handles. A man took hold of each 
handle and carried the body a certain 
distance. Then the four men at the 
head of the procession halted until 
the bier reached them and they took 
hold and carried it until they reached 
the next four. So it went until the 
graveyard was reached, the number 
of pall- bearers depending on the dis- 
tance from the home to the cemetery. 
I have seen two and three dozen serve 
at a funeral. 

"This way of caiTying the dead to 
the grave was kept up until pretty 
near war times. Then a man named 
Cameron from Carbondale came here 
with a hearse. The first person le be 



I taken to the grave in it was Mrs. John I 
I White. Of course only one was need- [ 
ed to introduce a custom that was I 
more convenient than the old way and i 
after a v.'hile everybody had the un- [ 
dertgker and his hearse " f 



THE FIRST BURGLARY 

An Event in the Early Days That 
Created Considerable Excite- 
ment— $10,000 Stolen. 



I 



Baring the years of the Civil war . 
the first burglary of any account oc- ' 
curred The money intended for the 
payment of the employes at the Eaton 
and cornteny, mines was taken from | 
the office safe during the night pre- f 
ceding the regular pay day. I 

The tvurglar forced an entrance and | 
recured ebout ten thousand dollars, f 
There were no time locks in those days 
and The v/ork of fitting a key to the 
lock in use was a simple matter. De- 
tectives v/ere employed to investigate 
the mattef but failed to incriminate 
any one. The loss of the money how- 
ever delayed the payment of the men 
a few hoifrs. 



" ♦ 



A complete line of Candv, 
Cigars and Tobacco 



ICE CREAM 



John L. Hevers 



i 1 

i ! 
i i 



.so 






..—4. 



JAMES ARCHBALD 



FIRST MAYOR OF CARBONDALE AFTER WHOM 
THIS TOWN WAS NAMED— SKETCH OF A 
PIONEER WHO WAS A BUILDEROF BIG THINGS 



Hon. James Archbald, after whom 
this borough is named, was born in 
Ayshire, Scotland, March 3, 1793. His 
father was one of the staunch yeo- 
manry peculiar to Scotland of that 
time, a man of few v/ords, but much 
thought. His mother was descend- 
ed from Robert Wodrow, a famous 
Scotch divine in a stormy period of 
Scotish history. When twelve years 
old young James came to America 
with his father and settled in the 
Mohawk valley of central New "bcork. 
He followed lumbering and trading. 
During all this time he studied dili- 
gently and became quite accomplished 
in a literary and artistic way. He 
was a musician of some distinction in 
hi^-day. 

He became a contractor about the 
time the Erie canal was built and 
made a section of that great water 
way. His work was so well and hon- 
estly done that he attracted the atten- 
tion of the chief engineer of the can- 
al, John B. Jervis, v/ho offered him 
a position with the engineering corps. 
He accepted and when, in 1825 Mr. 
Jervis was given charge of the Dela- 
ware & Hudson I'ciroad, Mr. Archbald 
was employed on it. In 1829 he was 
elected superintendent of the newly 
opened mines of the company at Car- 
bondale and from that date until the 
time of his death, he resided in this 
valley almost constantly. 

In 1837 Mr. Archbald was offered 
the position of engineer in charge of 
the enlargement of the Erie canal 
between Troy and Utica which he ac- 
cepted. He remained away from Car- 



bondale only a short time, he having 
returned to take charge of their road 
at the earnest solicitation of the Del- 
aware & Hundson company. 

In 1847 Mr. Archbald had charge 
of the construction of the railroad of 
the Pennsylvania Coal Co., between 
Pittston and Hawley. About this 
time, also, he was chosen Mayor of 
Carbondale, which office, he filled with 
great satisfaction for four successive 
terms, or until he left that city. 

In 1854 he was chosen vice-presi- 
dent of the Michigan Southern and 
Northern Indiana railroad of ^vhich 
road he assumed personal charge. At 
this time he ended his relations with 
the Delav/are and Hudson railroad. 
He remained in the west only a year 
when he again returned to this region. 

Soon after his return from the West 
he succeeded Hon. G. W. Scranton as 
general agent of the D. L. & W. rail- 
road. About this time he moved from 
Carbondale to Scranton From 1858 
until his death Mr. Archbald held the 
positions of President of the Lacka- 
wanna and Bloomsburg railroad and 
chief engineer of the Delaware, Lack- 
awanna & Western Railroad. Mr. 
Archbald died in Scranton, August 26, 
1870. His son is Hon. R. W. Arch- 
bald, of Scranton. The construction 
of the gravity planes over the Moosic 
Mountains were long the admiration 
and wonder of people in this section 
of the State. They were constructed 
under Mr. Wurts' supervision and 
they admirably served the purpose of 
the Delaware & Hudson company for 
more than fifty years. 




. ^.^ 



^1— w- 



EARLY NEWSPAPERS 

Journalism in Archbald Past 
and Present. 

Two things come forcibly to the 
mind of everyone, who by reasoTi of 
long and continued residence in the 
town, is enabled to indulge in recollec- 
tions of Archbald as it appeared Tifty 
years ago. The first of these is in 
the general topography of the place. 
The other is the changes which Lime 
has wrought in the inhabitants. 

During the first fourteen years of 
our existence as a town, each succeed- 
ing year brought but few sudden or 
important changes in either the ap- 
pearance of the town or the fortunes 
of the people. Content to pursu'3 the 
"even tenor of their way," undisturb- 
ed by even a spasmodic thrill of fic- 
titious energy, even at the close of a 
year of unprecedented financial de- 
pression and stagnation in all the av- 
enues of trade and business activity 
we find the people contented, happy 
and fairly prosperous. It was not 
until the spring of 1858 when th'T Del- 
aware and Hudson Canal company 
commenced the extension of their 
Gravity railroad to Olyphant that the 



beneficent effects of a real, genuine, 
! industrial boom were first felt. Dur- 
ing this year the entire line of double 
'< track extending from plane A in 
Archbald to plane G in Olyphant was i 
\ completed, giving employment to a 
large number of men and materially 
increasing the population. This sud- 
den and much needed impetus given to 
industrial pursuits was of lasting ben- 
efit. By it new lines of employment 
were thrown open to the people, im- 
proved facilities for the mining and 
shipment of coal were devised and put 
into sucessful operation which mt^rked 
the beginning of an era of unprece- 
dented growth and pi'osperity. It is 
only when we take into consideration 
the primitive methods employed r.p to 
this time and bv a careful comparison s 
of the same v/ith those afterwards in- 
troduced, that we can fully understand 
and readily account for the trreat 
change in both place and people. 

In 1858 Archbald was only a hamlet 
having but a fev/ hundred population, j 
nestling cosily among verdant hills 
and shady valleys; a forest of pine 
and hemlock stretching away in an 
unbroken line from Salem road to 
Mount Vernon, a forest whose still- 
ness remained unbroken by the sound 



iiiii!i!iiii!iiiiij!ijiiii'riiiiH{i!iiiii 



l!lllil!l!|i| 



I JOE TOKARZ, Prop. | 

1 Hill Street, Archbald 1 









m\ 






I Wines Liquors i 
I and Cigars | 

Jlllllilllll!ll|iJIIIIII!lllllllllllllll!ll|llill|i|ill|i|lllllilllllllll|||lllllllJ|[l!l!lin 




a^ "©lb 

ome 

c e k ' 

anb |J)o ur?? 
{Pleasures 
^bat Mill 
Bever Be 
jForc3otten. 

SUCH IS THE WISH OF 

Samler Bros. 

CO. 

SCR ANTON, PA. 

Outfitters for Men and 
Boys for Over 43 Years. 



32 



4»' 
I 



of steam whistle or toll of vesper bell. 

Even in those early days the educa- 
tional interests of the people were am- 
ply provided for by the maintenance 
of three public schools Those schools 
had a total enrollment of about one 
hundred and fifty pupils and were 
under the control of a board of direc- 
tors usually composed of the be:;t ed- 
ucated men in the district; thi: quality 
of education being absolutely necess- 
ary, inasmuch as the school b'jard 
vrere the sole judg-es cf the te:: hcr's 
fitness and qualification for the work, 
and these arduous duties were usually 
well performed. 

That great factor in education: the 
daily newspaper (which frequently ed- 
ucates in a wrong direction) wr>s at 
this time an unknown quantity to the 
residents of this valley. The people 
seemed satisfied with what news ^hey 
could glean from the columns of a few 
weekly papers among which we re- 
member the Cnrbondale Advance, the 
Lackawanna Register, and the Boston 
Pilot, to which may be added the New 
York Ledger, famous in those days as 
a story paper. It was many vears 
afterward that Archbald had a paper 
distinctively its own. 

The first attempt to establish . a 
newspaper was made in the early six- 



ties when Fred Goehrs of Goehr'.s Hill 
having had some experience as an ap- 
prentice in a printing office, conceived 
the idea of establishing not only a 
first class local paper but also an ex- 
tensive printing establishment. Fred, 
after securing an oction on what he 
considered a suitable place in which 
to Iccste the Dl?nt ordered his presses 
typ3, and other paraphernalia. This 
was actually shipped to Archbald, but 
upon its arrival here the wonld-be 
journalist v/ac not over- burdened with 
money snd the outfit was shipped 
back to New York, as sufficient funds 
were not available to even pay the 
freij^ht charges. The disappointment 
to his dreams and aspirations was 
more than Fred could bear, so he im- 
n'_edi:^.te'y left the s:enes of his child- 
hood and v/as a stranger to Archbald 
evermore. 

During the succeeding twenty years 
several efforts to establish a perma- 
nent nev/3Daper were made but all 
were fore-doomed to failure. One of 
these "creatures" of intellect the writ- 
er has especiall'/ in »~iin:l. It was the 
work of a few ambitious gentlemen of 
decided literary ability. I think their 
product was known as the Archbald 
News. The entire caper except a 
"patent inside" — and by-the-way that 



GOOD CLEAN 
HONEST DEALING 

A desire to pleise everybody. 
Every customer a satisfied customer 
that's the policy of this store. 

MEN'S BOYS' AND YOUNG 
MENS' FURNISHINGS 

Everything" you buy here is worth 
what you pay for it. 

Gene Kearney 



4. , 



— 4. 



.._._, _. _«. .._^ 3S '" " 



innovation was just then coming into 
general use — was the work of Arch- 
bald talent. The news and editorial 
matter were written here, but the copy 
was converted into type and the paper 
was printed in Scranton. While the 
News lasted it was an entertaining 
sheet, but the patronage it received 
was not sufficient to justify continuous 
publication and it died an early and 
untimely death. 

The next attempt to establish a 
paper was made in 1882 when a few 
persons who believed that a local 
paper and printing office had become 
a real necessity, brought out the first 
numbers of the Truth. The paper 
was printed in a small building on Hill 
street on a hand press and it coftinu- 
ed to grow and prosper to such an ex- 
tent that its projectors, in a short 
time, determined to seek a wider field 
of usefulness. The entire plant was 
removed to Scranton where it prosper- 
ed for a time as a weekly paper. From 
this sprung the Scranton Truth for 
many years one of the most widely 
read and influential daily newspapers 
in the state. 

Archbald, after the departure of 
the Truth was without a home paper 
until a Mr. Gould appeared on the 



scene in 1894 with the Archbald Bee. 
Having had considerable experience 
as a journalist, he no doubt concluded 
that by carefully avoiding the rocks 
and shoals he might succeed in Arch- 
bald where others had failed. It is to 
be regretted that his well laid plans 
came to naught. A cyclone of ad- 
versity struck the second weekly is- 
sue of the paper and thus the Arch- 
bald Bee passed into oblivion. 

Early in the spring of 1894 the late 
A. F. McNulty, a man of considerable 
literary attainments and journalistic 
ability, in partnership with Miss 
Nellie O'Donnell, seeing that Archbald 
presented an opening for a local paper, 
came here for the purpose of looking 
over the field. Basing his convic- 
tions on the fact that the people of 
Archbald were a reading community 
and would therefore be likely to pa- 
tronize a paper devoted exclusively 
to their interests, he accordingly, after 
the expenditure of much capital and 
labor succeeded in establishing the 
Archbald CITIZEN on a permanent 
and paying basis, a venture that would 
have proven eminently successful 
had not his career been cut short by 
the cruel hand of death. Called away 
at a time when his services were most 



liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^ 



SUITS, SHOES, TIES, 
UNDERWEAR, HATS, 
S OCKS, ETC« 

Our store is stocked with a com/^ 
plete and up^to^date line of goods* 

The store that can Suit you. 

BERGER'S 

THE HOME OF GOOD CLOTHES 






m 



4. _„_,._.„_„„_„_„_ 



iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiriniirifi 



34 






4. _._.._-.._.._.._.._.. — _._„_..__.._.._ 

valuable to the paper, it is no wonder 
that his loss to the paper was almost 
irreparable. 

In the fall of 1898 the ownership 
of the CITIZEN . passed ,; to . P. . A. 
Philbin, he having purchased it' from 
- the heirs of Hon. A. F. McNulty. The 
first issue under Mr. Philbin's control 
came from the press on October 1898. 
He conducted the paper until May 
1909 when he sold the plant to W. D. 
McHale and F. A. Lally, the present 
proprietors. Since they assumed 
ownership the office was moved from 
the old building on Church street, 
where it had been published since 
1894 to a building on Main street 
which had been specially built for it. 
The office is now one of the best 
equipped in the county, having a Mer- 
genthaler linotype machine and press- 
es and equipment competent to do al- 
most any kind of printing. 



ARCHBALD, THE SITE OF 

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 



Many years before v/hite settle- 
ments were made in Wyoming Valley. 
a well defined path or trail extended 
from the Indian villages in Wyoming 



to the Indian villages of the Delaware 
Valley where Milford, Pike county 
now stands. This patch or trail was 
along the Lackawanna through the 
Capouse village at Scranton to Arch- 
bald, thence across the Moosic Moun- 
tains to the Paupack river through 
what is now Hawley, to the villages 
at Milford the countv seat of Pike 
county. Many of the settlers here to- 
day can well remember a circular 
space near the Suspension bridge now 
known a^ the Mount Vernon section or 
"stump field" from which all traces of 
tall trees had been removed, not even a 
stump remaining. Dr. Hollister, one 
of the early historians of the Lacka- 
wanna valley assured the writer, that 
on this spot stood an Indian village 
which marked the end of the first day's 
journey which furnished shelter and 
rest to those making the journey from 
Wyoming and the villages in the Dela- 
ware Valley at Milford. This state- 
ment rests entirelv upon tradition, 
still it has distinctive features vhat 
bring it well within the scope or range 
of probability. The clearing was made 
there long before the days of the first 
white settlers. The question is "Who 
made it?" We have given the expla- 
nation as, we have received it^ 



i 



BUY 



SMIT H'S 
ICE CREAM 



1 i 

11 
I 

i 






35 



* I 



I 



I 



EARL'f SETTLERS. 



i Tho Names of Those Who First 



I 



Came Here. 



I The early records ot the town are 
1 so very meagre, that it is an extremely 
I hard t?.3k to get a complete list of the 
I first settlers in what is nov/ the cown 
I of Archbald. From the means at hand 
I the follcv/ing list has been made up 
I and it is useful as showing, if no" all, 
1 at least a very large percentage of the 
J early settlers. The settlemeiit on what 
I is now Rock and Hill streets, was ex- 
1 clusively Irish, although a few Ger- 
I mans came here as early as 1846. Dur- 
I ing the next few years there was a 
1 considerable influx of Welsh and En- 
I glish and they settled on the low tract 
,1 between the foot of Hill street and 
ii White Oak creek. Nearly all the 
>i first houses on that tract were built 
3 by this class of settlers. Mot--!; of 
I them left here before the Civil War 
I and toda;y there c.:e none of them on 
'I the tract. , 

I In the late 70*s a number of Bo- 
il hemian settlers came to the town 
■3 and lived chiefly in the vicinity of 

1 ^ 



Goer's hill. When the government 1 
opened up the rich k.nds cf Nebraska | 
and Kansas to homesteaders, nc-arly = 
all these Bohemians went Wesc and ! 
today there are none of them here. | 
The settlers in the town (exclusive f 
of the Ridge) in 1845-6-7, as far as 1 
we have been able to ascertain them, | 
are as follows: ! 

1845 — Patrick Giimartin, 1 hilip = 
Sherry, Frank Healy. i 

1846 — John Corv/in, James NIchol- | 
son, John Nicholson, Jar/.es Nicholson, f 
Jr., Enoch Siddon, Patrick Dolphin, = 
Conrad Lorenz, Dudley Cou,^hlin, j 
Michael O'Neill, Richard Jordan, j 
Henry Rogers, Thomas Swift, John ' 
Ferguson, Daniel O'Hara, Mark I.Iel- I 
vin, Hon. Patrick Kearney, Thomas f 
McLaughlin, Patrick Moran, Pairick 1 
McGuire, Henry Mackey, John Rod- I 
gers, Patrick Kearney, later of I-aurel J 
street. Michael Giiroy. Richard Gil- i 
roy, William Gilroy, John Gilroy, Ed- I 
ward Craig, Bernhardt Wagner, John T 
Hosie, Alver Eaton, George Simpson, i 

1847 — John Hofsommer, Mi' hael I 
Spellman, John Spangenburg, Mich- T 
ael Murphy, James Murphy, Michael f 
Swift, John McCaffrey, Thomas Mc- j 
Andrew, Roger Finnnerty, Mi.'.hael | 
Scanlon, John Scanlon, James Bar- i 



lllllillllllllll|lilllJIIII!l!lllllilll 



IIIIIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIilillllll 



lilllllllllllllllllllll 



II I 

1 I 

! 1 



m\ 




olan & Moran 



J I Groceries and Provisions 



1 1 



1 1 

1 1 
} I 

1 1 

^ mil 
4— . 



v/, I A'/ 



Mdwin Street 



|||||||||||||||l|||||||lj||l|||||||llllllllllllilllllllllll!l!lii;illllllllllll!l!l]|llllll.l^^ 



•t* ' " "" "" "" "" *" lilt— lt!(^^IIlt— ■II— III! UU till 

! lett, Peter Wiltz, Jair.es Hennigan, 
j William Lynott, Peter Hunt, Aioxan- 
I der Sweeney, James Corcoran, Martin 
i Geary, Patrick Clarke, Thomas Mar- 
I tin, Patrick Moran, 2nd, John O'Rara, 
I Brian Gaughan, Michael Gaughan, Sr., 
1 Patrick Coleman, John Moran, An- 
1 thony Coyne, Thomas Loftus, Patrick 
I Kearney, (later of Chestnut street,) 
' Dominick Dougherty, John Meyl, 
Peter Propst, Michael O'Boyle, Thom- 
as O'Boyle, Anthony O'Boyle, Anth- 
ony O'Horo, Patrick t)ougheT, Anth- 
ony Dougher, Edv/ard Flaherty, Pat- 
rick Scanlon, Martin Nealon, William 
McAndrevv, Michael Masterson, John 
Dougher, Martin Dougher, Fiank 
Dougher, George Wallace, Tom Pay- 
ers, Jacob Shearer, Anthony Mc- 
Laughiln, Patrick McAndrew, John 
Walsh, Patrick White, John White, 
Martin Holrr.es, Thomas Boland, Dav- 
id Middleton. 

The first house on the hill in the 
pre:ent Third ward, was built in 1846 
and is now a part of the home of 
Thomas McHa !e. It was built as a 
residence for Ihomas Sayers, a stat- 
ionery engineei" in the sei^vice of the 
Delaware & Hudson company. An- 
other early house was built on the 
site of the Thomas Scott home. John 



—.4. 



J. Swift, the first child born ti the 
early settlers, first saw the liglit at 
what was known as the "Great West- 



ern," in a house built in a dealing I 



near the Powder Mill 

The first bridge in the town was 
built on the site of the present Gil- 
martin street bridge, and it wa-- the 
only means of crossing the Lacka- 
wa,nna in the town. 

Archbald borough was divided into 
three wards in 1879. 

The first Justices of the Peace of 
the borough of Archbald were Edward 
Carroll and P. J. White. The first 
high constable was James Gilroy. 

Naturally business followed in the 
footsteps of the pioneers and within 
a few years the village became quite 
prosperous in a business sense. The 
tiTrst store was opened here in 1847 by 
Howell & Law. This was built at Gil- 
martin's corner. Other early s Lore- 
keepers were: Snyder and Taylor, at 
Butler's corner in 1848, Peter Walsh 
1848, West's store on the present site 
of t cotes Phar.nacy, 1848. Osborne 
& Spencer at M. J. Swift's, .848; 
Patrij c Gilmartin 1850, Patrick Kear- 
ney, 1850, Daniel O'Hara, 1850, Dol- 
plin, Coyne and Ferguson, 1851, Dol- 
phin & Jordan in 1851 and Thomas 
Healey, in 1854. 







J. J. BRENNAN 

Ice Cream, Candy, Cigars 



37 






SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMEN 



1 vERGHANTS OF THE TOWN WHO PROS- 
lERED IN THE EARLY DAYS OF ARCH- 
BALD BOROUGH— PORTRAITS AND BRIEF 

[iEETCEES OF A FEW OF THEM. 



It is worthy of note that many of 
the sons of the sturdy settlers of fifty 
years ago are today found amono- the 
most sucessfn.l business men of Arch- 
bald, notably Cawley Brothers, who 
are today conducting the large depart- 
ment stores, founded by their father, 
Martin Cawley some years ago. John 




..x^xvTIN CAWLEY. 

Ki'aft of Main street, also sue needed 
his father in the grocery trade and is 
now one of our prosperous merchants. 
Mr. A. V. Gerbig was one of the 
pioneer settlers, a harness maker by 
trade, for many years was engaged 
in the saddle and harness business 
Mr. Gerbig was also an expert ac- 
countant and was for a time in the 
stores of Peter Walsh. After a long 
service with the Delaware and Hudson 



Co. as a telegraph operator and sta- 
tion agent he retired to engage in the 
mercantile busines. He conducted a 
large general store to the time c^ his 
death a few years ago. 

The late Justus Bishop was one of | 
Archbald's most enterprising business j 
men for many years. He was the 1 




JUSTUS BISHOP. I 

founder of the extensive hardware 1 
store and plumbing establishment on | 
Main street. Mr_ Bishop was also > 
prominent -^ as an- investor in many j 
other enterprises. The late Patrick | 
McDonnell, John M. Dougher and f 
oJhn Timlin are among the number 1 
who were successful business men | 
m.ore than thirty years ago. 






eni^y Jxeveis 

Conti'actoir and ^isildzt 

PaintSt Brushes and Hardv/are 
Plans and Specifications 
Estimates on Application 



ARCH BALD PA. 



It 



^iiiiiiir^iMi^iiiiirjiiiii™^^ 

39 



; "^ "" " ' *" "" ■n— »« HH Nu^^iH^-BiiN— »iin^-*nif^i*itB— RH^^Rii^^ii«-»Hi*^ii«»in««»ni«^i«fl> 



4.-., 



and Realty Co. 



Lumber, Mill Work, Sash 
Doors, Moulding and Interior 
Trim at Wholesale and Re- 
tail. 

Special attention given to 
Contractors' and Architects' 
Estimates. 

Prompt Service and Right 

Piiccs. 

Get In Touch With Us. 



YARD AND OFFICE: 

707 River Street 

PECKVILLE, PA. 



4-., 



40 



4* 






ARCHBALD CHURCHES 



Facts Concerning- the Early 
Places of Worship. 

The earliest church here was the 
First Welsh Calvanist Methodist 
church, which was organized at the 
Ridge by Rev. John Davis in 1834. A 
building was erected in 1848 at which 
he conducted services until his death 
in 1866. The building is still stand- 
ing. 

The first church in Archbald was 
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic church, 
built in 1850 a mission church in 
charge of Father Fitzsimmons of Car- 
bondale parish. Previous to this vime 
services were held once a month at 
the residence of the late Patrick Kear- 
ney and later on in the home of Pat- 
rick Gilmartin. Archbald had no resi- 
dent pastor until the appointment of 
Rev. Father McSwiggan in 1855. This 
church, although a small one, seemed 
to meet all the requirements of the 
parish for ten years, when it became 
necessary to enlarge it_ A large ad- 
dition was built and the original build- 



MEATS 

GROCERIES 
PROVISIONS 



HENNER 

and 
KRIEGER 



—""—""—"-* 



jfiftp=Jfibe §ears( 

OF SATISFACTORY DRUG SERVICE TO THE 
PEOPLE OF ARCHBALD. 

Your father and your grandfather came here 
for their medicine. 

Ours is among the pioneer drug stores of this 
region. It is one of the oldest in the region. 

But it is not old-fashioned. 

Always improving, adding new appliances, 
adopting new methods, everything to advance the 
art of Pharmacy — we keep abreast of the times. 

We are thankful to the old residents who have 
had confidence in us these many years past and 
hope that they will live to enjoy many more Old 
Home Weeks. 

Footers Pharmacy 

lestabltshet) 1860 



41 



1 
. I 

li 



ing remodeled in 1862 under the su- 
pervision of Richard Benjamin, of 
Blakely. Archbald was never a fertile 
field for the exploitation of the Various 
new and modernized churches which 
sprung up in other parts of the coun- 
try. Our churches today are the 
same in number and the same in 
teaching as they were sixty years ago. 
This speaks well of the sincerity of 
the people in the matter of their re- 
ligious belief. 

In the year of 1870 Rev John Lou- 
ghran began work on the magnificent 
Roman Catholic church, St. Thomas 
Aquinas of today. The corner stone was 
laid in 1873 and the church was dedi- 
cated in August 1875. It cost origin- 
ally, $58,000. The Lutherans h^d a 
church here, where the boiler house 
of the old White Oak colliery now 
stands. It was built in the early fif- 
ties and was burned in 1858. Rebuilt 
and again burned in 1863. Soon 
after the present brick edifice was 
built. 



Last Coal From Batons. 

The last ton of coal was drawn from 
the pockets of the old Eaton breaker 
of Jones, Simpson & Co., on October 
15, 1893. Henry Lorenz, of South 
Main street, now foreman of the Ray- 
mond colliery took the coal out of the 
breaker. A year later, the breaker 
was partially destroyed by fire and 
then it was razed entirely. The large 
high brick stack at the fire room is 
yet standing, and is in good condition. 
o 

Mrs. Pickard, a Pioneer. 

The lady who has the honor of being 
the longest resident of the town is 
Mrs. Mary Pickard, widow of the late 
Thomas Pickard, of Hill street. Mrs. 
Pickard came here with her parents, 
Mr. and Mrs. Roger Flaherty in 1846, 
the year after Mr. Gilmartin came. 
Mrs. Pickard is still hale and hearty, 
and rejoices that she has lived to par- 
ticipate in the present celebration. 




Butler's 

Archbald Furniture House 






I WHERE YOU WILL FIND A STOCK OF 

j FURNISHINGS THAT WILL PLEASE YOU. 

j WE TREAT YOU RIGHT 

I Linoleums, Rugs, Bedding 

1 Our Specialty» 



BUTLER'S ARCHBALD FURNITURE HOUSE 







OLD HOME" OPENING. 



1 

j The Excellent Address of ?io- 

1 neer, Daniel J. Gilmartin. 

' The "Old Home Week," celebration 
I was opened promptly at midnight Sun- 
I day when Burgess James F. Kearney 
I amid the blowing of whistles, the 
I ringing of bells and shooting of fire- 
j works, turned affairs over to the Board 
: of Ti-ade. The key of the town was 
I handed over by the Burgess to John 
j R. Cawley, President of the Board of 
I Trade, v/ho introduced Mr. Daniel J. 
I Gilmartin, the only one of the pion- 
1 eers living, who formally opened the 
I celebration. Mr. Gilmartin made the 
1 following brief, but very excellenc ad- 
I dress: 

? "Mr. President, ladies and gentle- 

i men and members of the Board of 

', Trade: I thank you for the honor 

I conferred on me, for I consider it a 

1 great honor to be selected to open 

up "Old Home Wee\." Now that the 

festivities are about to begin, I hope 

the people of Archbald will be equal 

to the occasion and that nothinn,' will 

occur to mar the pleasure or bring j 



disgrace upon our town. 

But I have no fear that anything 
of the kind will happen, for I read in 
the destiny of our town far Letter 
hopes, far brighter visions. We who 
are assembeld here tonight to cele- 
brate this event must soon be gath- 
ered to our fathers who have gone 
before us. The time for our depar- 
ture is at hand to make way for our 
children on the theatre of life. May 
God speed them and theirs. May he who 
shall stand here seventy years hence 
to celebrate this day still look around 
upon a free, happy and a virtuous 
people. May he have reason to 
exult, as we do, and may he with all 
the enthusiasm of truth as well as of 
poetry, rejoice that Archbald is still 
on the map and still a good old town 
to live in." 

Mr. Gilmartin, the only one of the 
first settlers now living, was born in 
New York city, and came to this town 
when he was a small boy. He has 
lived here continuously since 1845, and 
was prominent in the politics of B:ake- 
iy township and Archbald Borough. 
He has served as Township Treii^'irer 
and was three times elected to Arch- 
bald borough council. He also served 
ihree times on the school bcr.rd. 



I *.. 



— ,:— "r* 



ll!|||||||||lli;i;i!!i!ilil!l!lllll!i;i!ll!ll!lllllllllilll!l!!il:l!l:l!l!lii:iili;ii|iii|i^ 



I 11 



T.J 




PLUMBING, TINNING, HARDWARE AND 
MINE SUPPLIES. 



I 11 




I MAIN STREET, ARCHBALD, PEN N'A. I 






Ii|{|<l'l!l1|llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!lllllll!|l|i|i|fillli|!|ilil>lilll^^ 



^ 



4,S 



CHRISTMAS HALE 

CENTURY AGO 



How the Great Feast Was Cel- 
ebrated in Archbald 



:iii:ii!i;i:i'i;iiiiiiiiTi:H!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiniiii!iiiiiiiiiiiniiii;iii^^ I 

|badlat»s|! 

I EMERGENCY SPRING j j 

I CLAMP 1 1 



1 Manufactured in Archbald = 



Fifty years ago, the facilities for w. 
celebrating- Christmas on a very ;]ab-^^ 
orate scale were poor indeed. Many 
of the delicacies which play an impor- 
tant part in modern Christmas feasts 
were then unknown or at least unob- 
tainable. Just think for a moinent 
that in 1860 Archbald was the only ^ 
town in Lackawanna valley between ] p 
Carbondale and Scranton, yet its ' W. 
market did not afford a particle of p 
fresh fish other than frozen or poor- ' ^ 
ly preserved oysters, packed for weeks ^ 
in two quart wooden kegs. Canned w. 
meat, fruit or vegetables of any kind j p 
were things unheard of, while celery ^ 
bananas or even the ordinary vari- ! ^ 
ties of vegetables were nowhere to be ' ^ 
found. Anything designated to tickle ' g 
the palate of an American epicuve in ^ 
those days must necessarily be an ar- ; m 

lllllillllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll t'" 
1 I 

I ANYTHING YOU MAY | | 
I NEED IN THE I 1 



— Invented by — 

JAMES BADLAT, 

of Archbald, Pa. 



^C 



BADLAT 'S ELECTRIC 
SHOE FACTORY 

P^irst Shoe repairing 
shop in town to use a com- 
l)lete line of modern shoe 
machinery. 



|1 
11 

11 



gl 



lllllllilllll!lllllllllllllllllllllll!llllillll!lllllllllll!lllllllllllllllll!i:illlillllillllllll 



rocery 



and 



isio 






r ' ' ^ 






"OLD HOME WEEK 
OR ANY OTKE?. WEEK 
YOU CAI7 GET IT AT 



GREEN 
TRUCK 



I i 



I MILLER S I 

JOSEPH MILLER, i 

Proprietor. ^ 

SOUTH MAIN STREET, | 
ARCHBALD. E 






llilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillillllllliyilllllllllllllllliill:! 



JOHN 
KRAFT 

MAIN STREET. 



44 



! i 

I I 



I ! 
I \ 
1 I 
1 I 

I I 

I I 
1 f 
! I 

I I 
! I 

I I 
1 I 

I I 

I I 
I I 
I I 



tide cf ho-re preparation or manu- 
factiuc. Nevertheless those .vere I 
forthcoming, not perhaps in such end- 
less variety and profusion, but cer- \ 
tainly served to satisfy the simple '. 
wants of a not-over fastidious people. '< 

Christmas in 1860 was observed in 
Archbald in much the same manner as 
those that had immediately preced- 
ed it. It vvras absolutely nece ssary i 
that the older portion of the family 
retire enrly on Christmas Eve. lest in 
the absence of steam whistle or church 
bell our repose would remain undis- 
turbed and we fail in our desire to be 
present at the 5 o'clock mass in the 
old wooden church in the rear of the 
post-office. How well v/e remcimber 
the old structure and the good Father 
McSwiggan who was then the patitor. 
If the interior of the church was ex- 
ceedingly plain, it was nevei-thless 
cosy and comfortable. 

In those early days of coal mming 
in the Lackawanna valley, it was cus- 
tomary to shut down work at the 
mine3 during the winter months 
This period of enforced idleness v/hich 
came with unvarying regularity and 
was commonly referred to as "Stop 
Cars", mdde not only the Christmas 
holidays but the major portion of the 
winter a day of rest and recuperation, 



1 

I General 
I Blacksmithing 







I J. KRAFT 

1 & SON 

1 
1 



"•* I iiiiiiiii!iiiii{iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 



PIO 



The 
NEER 



OF OARBOMDALE. 

IS NOW DOINa BUS- 
IN E.SS IN ARCHBALD 
AFTER AN ABSENCE 
OF SEVERAL YEARS. 
WE SOLICIT THE 
PATRONAGE OF ARCH- 
BALD PEOPLE AND 
GUARANTEE GOOD 
WORK AND PROMPT 
SERVICE. 



H, R. Halprin 



:-^ il 




+ — 

4. „ 



Dry Goods, 
Notions, 
Ladies' 
Ffii*fiishings 
Piece Goods. 



.(f3i 




Main Street 



— * llllilllllllillllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllliilllllilllllll! 



45 



^.._.._ — . — . — . . ..- 

whcih was enjoyed to the fullest ex- 
tent. Game being plentiful on the sur- 
rounding hills many would take ad- 
vantage of the season to satisfy their 
love of hunting either for/the pleasure 
they found in it, or for the profit it 
afforded. Others would prefer to 
while away the time in lounging 
among the stores or the shoe shop of 
Jake Ritter. A family resort for the 
unemployed was the store of Simpson 
& Shea in the building now used by 
the Dickson store company. Here the 
slavery question was viewed from 
every standpoint and was discussed as 
was every other question of local or 
national importance. 

During the winter months the cus- 
tomary balls, parties and social gath- 
erings, followed in quick succession, 
while coasting, skating and sleighing 
parties furnished all the amusement 
the vounger portion of the people de- 
sired or cared for. Archbald in ihose 
days was not a dull, monotonous or 
hum drum place, but was on the con- 
trary a lively thriving and prosperous 
community. 

The children in those days hung 
up their stocking, but Santa C.aus did 
not carry such an extensive and var- 
ied collection of gifts with him as he 
gives to the little ones now. 






i Compliments of the 

I Olyphanl 

I Water 

f Co. 



lllll|l|l|lll|{1llillliriilllll;iilii:ill1l!IIIIIIIIIIIIIllllilllillllllllllllllllllillllllll!llllllllF 



*— " 



„_.._„ — 4. 



JOHN E 
HARRISON 




UNDERTAKER 

NEW 'PHONE 

MAIN STREET 
I 

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